Knox County Through The Eastern Eye

On the extreme left at the SE corner of Main and Knox Streets, is the Levensaler Block, built in 1872 by Oscar and Thomas Andrews. The large brick building in the center is the second Watts Block, built to replace the first, which was built in 1890 but destroyed by fire in 1915. This picture was probably taken shortly after its completion.

Captain Samuel Watts, who built the first Watt’s Block, stipulated that the income from building rentals was to help pay the interest and principal of the debt created during its construction, and a portion of other monies collected was to benefit the worthy and industrious needy citizens of Thomaston. This second Watts Block was built using insurance money along with a donation of $10,000 from Captain Watt’s daughter, Mary Jane Watts. Captain Watts died about 1900 in New York City.

The small hexagon-shaped building to the right of the Watts Block was at various times a jewelry shop, a waiting station for the trolley railway, a veterinarian’s office, and is currently a residence on the east side of lower Beechwoods Street. E.R. Bumps was the jeweler, who owned the shop in the late 19th century and sold various souvenir cups and dishes imported from Germany that promoted General Henry Knox and Montpelier. The building was moved in the 1920s to Beechwoods Street, and was later used as an office by Dr. A. W. Peabody, well-known and respected Thomaston veterinarian.